Opposite Ocean Game

8.6.10 Press Release

The "Opposite Ocean" game is now available from the Apple iPhone Store at no charge. The creative iLearn Project team at New River Community College developed the game as the third in the Luna and Leo magic series of educational games.

The game runs on the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices. Opposite Ocean was available on August 6th, and an update to the game should be available next week.

The first game in the series, "Same Sound Spell Bound” helps students learn homophones and homonyms and was released on June 10th. The second game, released on July 18th, "Same Meaning Magic" helps students learn synonyms.

This new game, "Opposite Ocean", helps students learn antonyms. The student starts this game by choosing to play as the girl Luna or the boy Leo. The next choice is the grade level from 2nd to 6th grade.

The student chooses the antonym, opposite meaning, of the highlighted word in each sentence.

In this game, the student uses touch-and-drag mechanics to move the correct antonym word bubble for the sentence to the clam. If the word is correct, the clam throws a pearl into the treasure chest and money is added to the total. The Virginia Standards of Learning targeted for this game are:

2.6d) The student will use language structure to expand vocabulary when reading. Use knowledge of antonyms and synonyms.

4.3 The student will read fiction and nonfiction with fluency and accuracy. Use knowledge of word origins, synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms; and multiple meanings of words.

If the student gets 5 items wrong in a row, an octopus swims in and squirts ink at the student.
If the student gets 5 items correct in a row, a mermaid swins in and adds more colorful gems to the treasure chest.

All the images, sound effects, animations and programming were created entirely by the team of NRCC students and alumni. Team members Jason Clemmons, Adrian Lowry, and Justin Price did the game development, programming and process for the game. Jason and Adrian finished their NRCC degrees and will continue their education at Radford University this fall.

Cody Beasley and Heather Walters drew all the artwork and created the sound effects. Justin, Cody and Heather will continue taking IT courses at NRCC this fall.

Carmel Stowers designs future games and is researching the capabilities of a new tool called Game Salad. Carmel graduated with the IT Game Design degree specialization and is currently continuing her education at RU.

"This team of students has done a fantastic job of creating the games from start to finish. They are experiencing the real world of educational game project development. The entire team collaborates on all aspects of each game so each game contains ideas from every team member including me." says Carlotta Eaton, professor of information technology at NRCC and head of game technology programs.

The iPhone games are funded by an EETT Grant (Enhancing Education Through Technology) from the Virginia Department of Education working in collaboration with Dr. Matt Dunleavy and the RU Games Lab team at Radford University, Radford City Schools and Pulaski County Schools.

See more game details at www.nr.edu/it and information about classes offered at NRCC in game design and development, or contact Carlotta Eaton ceaton@nr.edu or (540) 674-3600 x4250.